The Latest: Hundreds march in Texas protest of border wall

Updated 12:59 pm, Saturday, August 12, 2017

MISSION, Texas (AP) — The Latest on a Texas protest against the border wall the Trump administration wants to build (all times local):

1 p.m.

Hundreds of protesters have marched in Texas' first major protest against a border wall.

The protesters on Saturday crossed the earthen Rio Grande levee where the President Donald Trump's administration wants to build part of the first sections of the wall.

Many of the protesters acknowledged they might not be able to stop a project that the U.S. government is already planning, even though Congress hasn't yet signed off on funding. But they hoped to draw national attention to the cause and persuade lawmakers who have yet to vote on the proposal.

The procession set out just after dawn from Our Lady of Guadalupe, a church in the border city of Mission. The procession grew as it headed south toward the Rio Grande. It ended at La Lomita, a tiny century-old chapel just south of the levee, but still north of the border.

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8 a.m.

Hundreds of people are marching in South Texas toward the Rio Grande to oppose the wall the U.S. government wants to build on the river separating Texas and Mexico.

Led by an altar boy carrying an incense holder, the procession set out after dawn Saturday toward La Lomita chapel in Mission. The border town would be the target of new barrier construction under the Trump administration's current plan.

The march is the first major protest against the border wall to be staged in the Rio Grande Valley. The section of farms and border cities is at Texas' southernmost point.

The Trump administration has proposed building 60 miles (97 kilometers) of wall there. It's part of a $1.6 billion proposal to begin the president's signature immigration priority.